Google Releases First Development Kit for Project ARA, its New Modular Smartphone Platform

Google has released a Module Developers Kit (MDK) for Project Ara, an initiative that aims to develop a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. The MDK defines the Ara platform for module developers and provides reference implementations for various design features. Main goals of the ARA platform are being low cost and creating a rich module ecosystem.

Firefox OS 1.3 Adds New Technologies For Mobile Developers

Mozilla has announced that a new Firefox OS version is now available to Mozilla partners. The update includes many new features for both users and developers. The new OS version is already available on a new ZTE mobile phone, the ZTE Open C.

LibreSSL, OpenSSL Replacement: The First 30 Days

LibreSSL is the OpenBSD group’s response to the Heartbleed security vulnerability that was discovered a few weeks ago in OpenSSL. LibreSSL aims at fully pruning/refactoring OpenSSL to provide a secure and stable code base, fix long standing bugs, introduce modern programming practices, and redesign portability. After one month of work, it is time for a status update.

Bridging the Gap Between Gesture and Animation with Facebook's Pop Framework

Facebook has recently open-sourced Pop, the animation engine behind its iOS Paper app. Pop aims at making it easier for developers to go beyond fire-and-forget animations, thus enabling interactive animations. In addition to static animations, Pop supports spring and decay dynamic animations, as well allowing the creation of custom animations.